Did this feel like a playoff game?
Umm, it did. Certainly in the second half it did. - Rick Carlisle
Considering Dallas was outscored 49-35 in the second half, I find that answer to be a little worrisome...
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Sefko has his game recap and says the rest of the season will be tough.
"Every one will be a dogfight from here on," said Bass. "But we got to pull these [expletive] dogfights out."
Over the next three weeks, the Mavericks will play 13 games, with 10 of them against Western Conference opponents.
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Mike Fisher has his game observations.
One of the themes for the next month or so while Terry nurses his broken hand: "Where will those 20 points come from?'' JJB and Bass punched their ballot. They stayed on the floor in crunch time thanks to pick-and-roll work that allowed the pair to score 22 straight points during the rally, Barea totaling his career high and The Animal contributing 13 points.
The five turnovers hurt, but Barea had a great game. Unfortunately, Barea and Bass also combined to blow the Mavs best chance at winning the game.
With 4:45 left in the game, Dallas had reduced the lead to three points. The defense stepped up and thanks to three Houston turnovers the Rockets attempted only one shot over the next two minutes and didn't score. In those crucial two minutes, Dallas went 0-4 with Barea and Bass each going 0-2. What could have been...
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Dirk took two shots in the fourth quarter. I don't care how bad he's been in the first three quarters, that's not enough. Dallas completely went away from him and it was kind of weird to see. Especially since Kidd had just said this after the Nets game, "you know he's going to be the guy we go to when we need a basket."
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Antoine Wright scored 8 points in the first 8 minutes. He's looking more like a starter instead of the guy who starts.
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Sefko has a short article on Stack's return.